"Destroy humanity?" The Old One spoke.

The sound of the voice alone rattled the very foundation of the building above their heads. That was mild compared to the ringing in their skulls.

"Yes, your majesty." The leader began. He gave a curt bow, in respect and sheer honor. The others remained worshipping the floor, fearful to even lay eyes on the darkness.

"Mortal..." The voice rumbled. "May you answer my query?"

Such an odd reversal led to pause in the cult leader. He expected to serve, to be the right hand. Not to answer a question from his god.

"Yes, your majesty."

"Why would I destroy humanity?" The rumble returned. From the darkness, a clawed hand emerged. The size of a compact car, it settled and cracked the cement ever so slightly.

The leader shuffled. "Because... Look at what we are. What we do. The, the world. And how we've destroyed it. A-and, and how, how we know we could be better. But we choose to destroy each other."

The hand slid closer, causing every one to look up.

Another rumble came forth. But it wasn't a growl of hunger or vengeance. It was laughter. Tired, ancient laughter.

"You don't get it. Do you?" The Old One rumbled.

The other cultists watched their leader for an answer, or at least, the one they all had agreed on. "No? No, your-"

"Majesty. Right." The hand waved mildly, claws clicking on the floor. "Let me explain something."

There was a flicker in the lights above. Followed by a second hand reaching forth. There was fear building at this. The Old One understood. Despite their summoning ritual, they were scared to meet face to face. Fear was the oldest emotion after all.

"Long ago. Before your time. Before the Earth. There were more of us. Some have gone. Some remain."

It paused. Allowing them to at least to check for injuries among them. It understood.

"One like myself. He wanted to create something different. Something alive. And so he picked a world. And he created you there." It continued. The voice wasn't as tired. It felt awake. Alive now.

"We didn't believe. He had created a species that had endless potential. Rare. So very rare. And what a joy to observe."

This thing came closer, a outline visible now. One of the cultists fell over then and there. It seemed like they fainted. Their heart just gave out in all reality. Unfortunate side effects.

"What are you saying?" Their leader began. "You're saying we're entertainment?"

"You are more incredible than you realize." The Old One promised. "However. You do not appreciate it. You seek to ruin the world they created."

It's voice sunk. "In order to start over. This is unnecessary. Your summoning of me for this purpose is irresponsible."

It's approached caused madness in some now. The Old One could see all. The carnage they wrought. The unforgivable shedding of innocent blood. The horrors inflicted on many who never caused harm worthy of such.

"And I must say.... I have not feasted in some time."

The leader, despite the terror he faced, asked slack jawed. "Whatever do you mean?"

"The easiest way to change your world." The Old One revealed. "Is to start with yourself."

The leader realized something clouded the edges of his vision. Blood. His blood.

"But in this case." The Old One promised the now writhing bodies. "I shall do what you cannot."

The building lay quiet now.

All that remain. A stained floor. A useless book in an empty room. And long forgotten screams that fell on dead ears.

From a world away from ours. A creator again admired their works.

I was originally going to be funny, but I decided to play it straight. r/Jamaican_Dynamite

The universe was a different place when the old ones were at their peak. Bright, warm, a safe womb that birthed so many mortal species. The old ones were timeless, existing outside the confines of the universe, without a beginning or an end. They never had interest in lesser mortal beings, their motivations unfathomable to lesser minds.

This was until the chaos gods arrived. Even the old ones could do nothing but observe as the chaos gods devoured nearly every erg of energy from the universe. The warm embrace of the universe turned cold, dark and lifeless. Almost every mortal species were wiped from existence. It was then, the old ones realised that the chaos gods would not stop with the universe, once they had consumed the whole universe into an entropic ruin, they would turn on the old ones themselves, consuming otherworldly energies that power them and leaving nothingness behind.

A terrible war eventually erupted, destroying many of the old ones while not even slowing down the ruinous entropy created by the chaos gods. The remaining old ones created pockets of radiant energy throughout the universe, what lesser lifeforms call as stars, to slow down the progression towards eventual nothingness. Even the stellar energy of the stars were not enough. Still, new life was formed around these final hallmarks of a past universe.

There was little hope for life to thrive in the cold, dark void of the universe. But there was still a means for life to find a way. The old ones tried to ensure a future, no matter how perilous the situation. This action however also caused their decline. The universe and the energies that powered them were no longer abundant and old ones went into a slumber.

Uncountable eons had passed. The memory of the olds ones all but faded into oblivion, being revived only during their rare and brief awakenings. A few lesser beings were blessed by such awakenings, receiving unfathomable power and control over the void of the universe. One such race were the Glimods, a race of warlike conquerors who were one of the very few species to observe an awakening. They learnt much from old ones and grew. They grew beyond the confines of their star system and conquered numerous worlds, up until they met humanity.

They found humanity in a bountiful world, a small pitiful species, barely intelligent enough to even comprehend an old one without descending into madness. They were a perfect slave species. The Glimod prayed to the old ones, many blood sacrifices were offered but something was wrong. An old one's voice was heard, incomprehensible to a majority of the Glimod race. The voice was heard in the minds of every single Glimod individual, terrible beyond imagination. This event was known as the Breaking. Around half of the Glimod race went completely insane. The rest suffered slowly as their whole civilisation collapsed. A few Glimod priests recorded the terrible message, their minds trained to comprehend the language of the old ones.

Years later, the surviving Glimod would decode the message. Humanity was a ray of hope for the old ones. A race that may survive the chaos gods that have turned the universe dark, if they do not succumb to the chaos themselves. Every race was to meet an eventual end to the chaos, including the Glimods. Humanity would survive, not because of their pitiful intelligence or their almost non existent strength of spirit, but because they were created with same energies that created the chaos gods themselves. Eventually even the old ones would die out, but humanity would survive, living in the chaos, a bastion of life in a cold, dark, endless universe.

The ritual seemed to work fine. All of the usual stuff, an earthquake, couple of sacrifices, a few hymns and finally the elder spoke the name. Hold did not expect this to work at all, after all this was not the first ritual that failed but to police showing up investigating a “kidnap”, weather changing and flooding the cave, or even someone sneasing in the wrong moment. Nevertheless they kept on trying. This time though it worked. A wave of dark power washed over them driving the lesser members mad. From one moment to the other there the Elder One was. Well probably, Hilda had her eyes tied as a precaution and she was happy for her foresight. Even in the darkness of her vision the Old One was present clear as day but looking more like a reflection from a mirror. After all darkness was the natural habitat of the Great Old Ones, she thought.

“Oh Great Old One!” The Elder said kneeling infant of his master. “Thank you for answering our call! For bringing glory to our final path towards ending the human race!” He spoke with passion slowly rising his voice to a powerful crescendo.

“Mortal” the master answered. “This is what you have called me to Earth for? Is this your request?”

“Yes oh Glorious Master. We wish nothing else but to materialise your will”

“And what made you think I want you to end humanity?”

The Elder did not sound as confident now.

“The scriptures Master. The books all mention the destruction of Human race and we…”

“You are too small and insignificant to UNDERSTAND.” The Old One spoke and Hilda felt the vibrations of the Voice straight to her heart. She felt the pressure and heard her team’s screams faintly in the background covered by the Voice.

“We MADE darkness and pain. We created MONSTERS of all kinds. All of them explicitly serving their cause. But our best creation yet is HUMANITY. A tribe of monsters capable of good and evil. A kind that can understand the pain they inflict in others and still has the capacity to do it anyway. A people who know what they need to do to save themselves yet they are doomed to not do it. A self destructing hoard that views itself better than beasts in the same was household cats view themselves superior.”

Silence. Was it real silence? Or was everyone else just dead? Hilda decided that either way her best chance was to stay absolutely silent.

“Master…” the Elder spoke slowly “What should we do then? What do you want from us?”

“From you? Why would I ever want anything from YOU?”

The sounds that followed were wet and forceful. Nothing could compare to the horror of that sound. Were they all dead? Did the Elder one crush them like one steps on an annoying insect? Even more was Hilda even alive? Or were these her last moments while her body traveled the short distance between her standing position and the back wall of the cavern?

Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.

Reminders:

>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include "[Poem]" >* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail >* See Reality Fiction and Simple Prompts for stricter titles >* Be civil in any feedback and follow the rules

🆕 New Here? ✏ Writing Help? 📢 News 💬 Discord

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[removed]